Artificer help

[Godskook]

Ok, I'm running a RL campaign, and one of my players is a low-level artificer. Problem is, his system-mastery isn't great, and for artificer, is zero, since he's never played the class. *I've* never played the class either, but I know a good bit about it in terms of what I've read around here. Problem is, most of what I've read around here assumes higher level play, so I'm more rusty on the basics of the class than I am on the finer points of optimization(such as which items to craft and such).

So what is the basics of running an artificer? I know he needs a *really* good UMD score, so I'm advising him towards Skill Focus(UMD).

He's already got his first level feats selected, and the most relevant one for now is combat casting.

Relevant houserules:
-Currently, no action points. Do artificers need this at all?
-Metamagic stacking is limited for full-casters by the clause "must be able to cast without reducers before casting with reducers". For the metamagic class features, this translates into a level cap, possibly with a 2 level penalty.(So an artificer can't empower a scroll of magic missile till 5th or 7th level) Crafting items with the metamagic built in is more reasonable since it can still get quite costly.
-Feats and Point-Buy can both be bought at the cost of xp. The PC in question is currently at about 17 point-buy, with a good int bonus and charisma penalty. (First feat cost 1k xp, 2nd is 2kgp, and so on, capped at 10 feats, and point-buy follows the formula of currenty PB squared in xp to get another point, capped at 30+level point-buy)
-Test of Spite is my "fallback" for justifying a nerf to anything, but I try to be more allowing than they are, in as much as their policy was a more "ban it if its broken" system, while I tend to take a more house-rules oriented approach(Lightning maces are allowed in my game, but "bonus attacks can't grant bonus attacks" for instance)

[Vizzerdrix]

Drop Combat casting. it's a trap in every way, and depending on Cha score, Skill focus. He needs to get that fixed. Cha is important (but not as important as Int). The loss of action points means he can't quicken any infusions so he'll have trouble if ambushed. Pick a small number (Like 3) and let him speed up that many each level.

Early levels are all about infusions and scrolls. Infuse a crossbow with Bane and go to town.

[realbombchu]

My experience with Artificers is very limited, but I'm sure they need action points or the Rapid Infusion feat. Some take both and add Heroic Spirit, so they can always have a bane weapon if they're ambushed.

As was already said, he does not need Combat Casting, but does need some Charisma and a crossbow.

What are his ability scores? It's open to debate, but I think it should look like Int>Cha>Con>Dex>Str>Wis.

It totally depends on your player's goals though. Is he trying to make a meleeificer?

[Godskook]

1.How insistent should I be about him dropping combat casting? It could come up with both his infusions and scroll-casting, which sounds like a heavy part of his class right now. While his first level feats are ~set at the moment, I could justify changing them, since he paid 500xp to redo his first level during last session.

2.Sounds like missing action points are going to be a rough thing right now. Perhaps I should give him APs "for the purpose of infusions" for now, until I think of a better way for our game. I'm willing to hear suggestions on a patch, or possible a cool way to introduce the mechanic without it seeming like a "You couldn't yesterday, but now you can" thing, since I've got enough of those already.

3.I convinced him, through in-game methods, of carrying a crossbow(I gave the advice to the warblade as a "You know martial lore", and got the artificer to upgrade from non-proficient kukri+shortbow to simple weapons with roughly the same uses).

4.On the stat allocation, I figured something like that(more specifically, UMD= +20 >Int>Cha>Con&Dex>Str>Wis, but yeah), and he's got enough room to make some dramatic changes to what it is.

5.He has no goals except being a good crafter, and has already tried to convince me that he can build a repeating crossbow(I need to find stats for that).

---------

And for crafting items:
1.Does he need a craft() skill to craft things other than armor/weapons? Like, would a circlet of persuasion require a craft check, and if so, what kind?

2.What kinds of items can he craft *right* now?(I think he just dinged level 2 at the end of last session)

[HunterOfJello]

If the player doesn't have a good grasp on d&d, spellcasting and item enchantments, then they really shouldn't be playing an Artificer. The artificer is one of the hardest classes to learn because of their insane versatility.

The class can cast any spell and infuse any armor or weapon enchantment. Just those 3 lists alone are massive and take experience, research and game knowledge to work with.

~

I would suggest that the player reroll and try out a non-Tier 1 class. If he wants to be versatile, craft items and be generally awesome, then the Factotum class is much easier to grasp and play well.

[Aharon]

@Godskook @2.
Well, there was a web enhancement with fate points, which are basically equivalent to action points (found here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070411a)).
You can either
a) allow him to take a level of Seer and thus get action points, which might put him behind the power of the rest of the group, depending on their classes and system mastery
or
b) allow him to create, together with a seer, a schema or wand of unfettered heroism. The seer brings in the prereq of having access to action points, and later on, the artificer can emulate this class feature of the seer with an UMD check.

@Crafting items question
The actual circlet is assumed to be payed by the material cost, I think. So the only thing he needs to craft magic stuff is UMD. Crafting skills are only required for creating non-magic items.

@Combat Casting
Do you allow him to craft custom items? If so, he can make bracers of concentration +4 for 800 gold and 32 xp. I don't remember the WBL charts exactly, but this should be within budget around 2nd to 3rd level. So no to Combat Casting.

Generally, low level artificers are rather hard to play. The class begins to be competitive from 5th level onwards, when they get the Metamagic Item Infusion. The impact of this infusion might be lowered by your houserule on metamagic, though.

I also second Hunter of Jellos point.